Now that Congress has returned from their August break, they’ve turned their attention toward the work in front of them for the fall. The Alliance is staying plugged into the developments on Capitol Hill and continuing to make sure Congress knows how their decisions will impact the most vulnerable Americans. We’ll keep you updated as much as possible, and we need you to let Congress know you are paying attention, too. We have plenty of tools to make that easy for you.
An important part of our work is to keep Congressional staff educated on the progress we’ve made over the last decade, where that progress has come from, and what it teaches us about the future.
On Monday, the Alliance will host a Hill briefing, sponsored by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), and Sen. Jack Reed (R-RI), entitled Local Efforts that are Ending Homelessness and How Congress Can Support Them. We will lay out for Congressional staff —with the help of friends from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans; and leaders from Las Vegas, NV, and Richmond, VA—the progress communities across the country have made, and what approaches, innovations, and practices led to that progress.
Leading communities have driven consistent declines in homelessness, and more than 50 cities and three states have ended veteran homelessness. It’s only possible by embracing innovative, evidence-based strategies that center on a Housing First philosophy. While the important work at the local level has driven this progress, Congress plays a crucial role in building on it. Support from both Republicans and Democrats over the past decade has produced incredible results, and with a growing housing affordability crisis, their partnership and investment will only become more important in the coming years.
Our goal for this briefing is to show the incredible work in communities across the country, while convincing Congress to join you in the fight to end homelessness. But we can’t do it alone. We still need your help and your voice. For now, that means calling your Congressional office and telling them to send their Housing Staffer to our briefing on Monday. In the coming months, as negotiations for the Fiscal Year 2018 budget continue, we will continue to need your voice to help us make ending homelessness a priority on Capitol Hill.
So give your Congressional office a call, and gear up for a busy fall. It will take work, but together, we can end homelessness.